Hey
bebes, how happy and honoured LMD was to be invited to the 60th
anniversary celebration of powerhouse Korean conglomerate, CJ Group.
Of their holdings, we in the west would probably be most familiar with
CJ Entertainment, which has produced and distributed films like
Joint Security Area, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,
Memories of Murder, Secret Sunshine, No Regret,
Snowpiercer, and tons more.

Rarely
is the East Coast treated to such a gathering of Korean luminaries from
both the movie and music world as was in attendance that evening. On
hand for the festivities were...

International superstar, Lee Byung-hun
from I
Saw the Devil, Masquerade and GI Joe.

Ha Jung-woo, one of
Korea’s most acclaimed actors, from The Berlin File,
Nameless Gangster and My Dear Enemy.

Lee
Jin-wook, young star of the drama Nine: Nine Time Travels (Soon
to be remade in the US).

After
mixing and mingling with the stars, everyone was invited to view Moon
Byoung-gon’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning short, Safe, and
director Jo’s thesis feature, End of Animal.

And
because the splendour of the evening wasn’t enough, they even sent us
home with a care package full of CJ-goodness, including a DVD of Kim Ji-woon’s excellent The
Good, the Bad, the Weird {also starring Lee Byung-hun}
and healthy yummies (incl. a lot of seaweed snacks) from their
subsidiary chain, Bibigo.

Lee
Byung-hun: Of course it’s important. CJ, they’ve done a lot of
things for Korean Entertainment and I’d like to help as much as I can.

LMD:
Congratulations on your success. And do me a favour, work with that
Kim Ji-woon guy again!

LB-h: {Laughs} Yeah!

LMD:
PSY, you’re one of the rare KPop figures who writes their own songs.
Could you please tell young hopefuls that want to be part of KPop why
composing is important?

PSY:
It’s all about expression, you know? If they express their own songs,
they can express themselves. That’s why.

LMD:
On a fan note, I think "Bird" is one of the loveliest songs I've ever
heard.

PSY:
How do you know about "Bird?"

LMD:
C'mon, man, some of us know more about you than "Gangnam Style."

LMD:
Director Jo Sung-Hee, when did you know that
A
Werewolf Boy was going to be such a big hit?

Jo
Sung-Hee: I didn’t expect a lot in the beginning. It was my first
commercial film, so I just wished I could do the next project.

LMD:
What is next for you?

JS-h: I’m planning my next project which is a noir thriller about a
private detective. I want to finish it as soon as possible.

Upon
asking actor Ha Jung-woo about his
directorial debut, Fasten
Your Seatbelts, he confirmed that the main character was indeed
based on fellow actor Ryo Seung-beom, but with
G-Dragon’s fashion sense. Also directing gave him a new perspective
on his acting and he’d definitely like to direct a film again.

Actor
Lee Jin-wook claimed to have no idea that his drama Nine: Nine
Time Travels was being remade in America, but he’d love to have a
role in it.

Asking
Crush and Blush actress Gong Hyo-jin about her propensity
to buck the trend of most female stars by taking oncharacters
who aren’t pretty, she replied, “I just like playing those characters.”

Click on the thumbnails to see exclusive piccys of the festivities:

Wishing CJ 60 years and more of continued success.

Special
thanks to the dashing Mr. Goran Topolovic of the New York
Asian Film Festival for kindly extending even more than his usual
fabulosity.

Enjoy,

L.M.D.

Nov. 7th, 2013

2012

K-SOOL
Tasting Event at Kristalbelli,

New York, NY

In
what's proving to be a fascinating evolution, the Korean restaurant,
Kristalbelli, continues to grow from its relatively simple concept
of an upscale barbecue bistro and lounge to a more complex center for
promoting Korean culture. Owned by KPop superstar and entrepreneur,
Jin-young Park, the very modern Kristalbelli held a fabulous
night of revelry to introduce traditional Korean beverages, or K-SOOL
as they’re collectively known, some of which have never been available
in this country.

Joined
by dignitaries from respected Korean cultural associations, JYP
hosted the K-SOOL event, which combined tables featuring over two
dozen different potables for guests to try (… and try, and try again),
fabulous Kristalbelli appetizer fare prepared by Chef David Shim
(Including those delectable Chaps! desserts by BESFREN.)and the KPop love was out in full force with DJ Saewon "Kimmy"
Kim spinning the newest grooves from Seoul while a New York KPop
dance team performed. While still a baby restaurant, Kristalbelli
seems to have already mastered a balance between its posher leanings and
inevitable high profile and the hominess of its comfort food, warm,
friendly service and the natural amicability of an event like this.

Hey, yeppuda namja and yoja, what a nice way to spend the crack of
dawn. We visited dear friends at ABC-TV’s Live! With Kelly,
which seems to have wound back the clock with new energy since we were
there a few years ago. The presence of the fabulous Korean group (and
one of our Glorious Things of 2011)
, Girls’
Generation
making their American morning show debut made it a celebration. Their
devoted American fans (two of whom had queued up at 9PM the night
before) hooted, shouted and fanchanted their appreciation for the
nine glamourous pop princesses.

Dig
it!

The giant Girls’ Generation
bus.

These are photos taken
right before they went on.

Shot during their
performance of The Boys, during the commercial break and their interview
and photo shoot with Kelly Ripa & Howie Mandel after. The girls showed
the hosts how to do one of their famous moves which they named "The Ripa".

Here’s some of the SONES
who packed into the Live! set and gave the girls a warm welcome that had
the show’s producers absolutely gobsmacked afterwards. There’s also a
shot of the gorgeous pair who spent all night waiting to come in. Some
Fabulous Faerie GodDiva managed to help them be rewarded for
their efforts by getting them backstage to meet their idols

~ The Lady Miz Diva
February 1st, 2012

Enjoy,

L.M.D.

Feb. 1st,
2012

The Wizarding
World of Harry Potter, Universal Studios, Orlando

Hey boys and girls, as I
clear out the cobwebs of 2011, I wanted to give make sure you saw our
pics of our amazing trip down to southern climes and strangely into the
eternally snow-covered Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal
Studios, Orlando Florida. From its amazingly rendered scale
representation of the swooping towers and turrets of the Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft And Wizardry, the Butterbeer stalls on cobblestone
streets, the Moaning Myrtle recording playing in one of the ladies’
restrooms, the lovely pink gown that turned Hermione Granger into a Yule
Ball butterfly on display, to the script-accurate wand choosing ceremony
that occurs every twelve minutes or so in Ollivander’s shop, this is
truly a Potterhead’s dream come true.

Some views inside
Hogwarts where the hours-long queue for the Harry Potter and the
Forbidden journey ride which is the best attraction in the Islands of
Adventure park. You’ll see Dumbledore’s study, the Pensieve, The Sword
of Gryffindor, all of Gilderoy Lockhart’s volumes, the Sorting Hat and
the Hogwarts house points hourglasses.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Hogsmeade, home the Butterbeer cart. There is never less than a
20-minute wait for the Hogsmeade specialty (Where you can also
purchase Pumpkin Juice). I once saw a tiny woman polish off four of
these in a row. Get it in the take-home collector’s mug.

Little did the weekend's
visitors know that beyond the gate below they might find some familiar
faces, like this pair of twins just sitting around for a chat.

Here are some of the shops - and crowds – from the Hogsmeade /Diagon
Alley section, where you’ll die of sugar overload in Honeyduke’s, or
from laughter at Zonk’s joke Shop, which may spoil your fish and chips
meal from the Three Broomsticks restaurant next door. Ollivander’s is
here. The fun Dueling Dragons coaster is tucked away on a road decorated
with Tri-Wizard Tournament banners and the Hogwarts Express leads you
out back into the boring Muggle world.

Little Potter fans waiting for the stars on the Hogsmeade red carpet

The entire park is a faithful reproduction that includes real props from
the films so breathtaking that it’s way too small for the area it’s
given. An entire park of nothing but Harry Potter would be wholly
appropriate and packed every day if maintained with the care this small
outlet is. Still for this small, concentrated version, if I could only
find that invisibility cloak I would never leave.

After a year’s
hiatus, the New York Comic Con returns bigger and bizarre-er than
ever, this time armed with the New York Anime Fest as a wingman.
Check out our pics of the illustrious guests - A.K.A. Bruce Campbell
- and all the beautiful ones letting their geek flag fly.

Gumby boogies down to Smooth Criminal

SPIIIIIIKE!!!!

Katey Sackhoff - the only person at Comic Con to escape Jack Bauer.

BRUUUUUCCCCE!!!!! in a freaking tux!

Diana, I presume? Ladies & Gentlemen, Miss Jane Badler

Baby V, Laura Vandervoort

What a pretty reptile. V's Morena Baccarin

Laura Vandervoort 2X

V Lizar--er, Ladies

ADEBISIIIIIII!!! And Mr. Eko, too! I tell ya, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje can do it all.

The Thing's Joel Edgerton and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

The Thing boys

More boys from The Thing

The man who would be Bird, Sesame Street's Mr. Caroll Spinney

Strange, he doesn't look Grouchy. Sesame Street's Mr. Caroll Spinney

AAAHHHH, Pedobear!!!

Tokidoki's Fabulous Simone Legno

NYCC did its best to make sure the ladies at the con felt as secure as possible in every part of the hall.

No Gnus is indeed Good Gnus - creator of LMD's words to live by, Jm Martin.

Hey kids, this was the final year that the NY Anime Festival was
going to stand on its own. Starting next year, comic book geeks and
otaku will share the Javits Center for their annual jamboree. I
felt duty bound to watch the cosplayers, maids and lovers of
Japanese culture roam unfettered in their undiluted element through
the convention halls one last time.

This year, music was a
lot of my focus, and I had the opportunity to attend the Far East
to East Showcase, featuring the amazing Echostream.

I
also had the surreal experience of attending the New York debut of
AKB48, a Tokyo-based group of 48 girls who sing and
dance to Akihabara pop songs. I’ve never seen so many men outnumber the women at a concert that
was anything other than
heavy metal, but the Y-chromosomes sang every single word and mimed
every single move of the often briefly-clad coterie of teens and tweens.
Despite the charm of the adorable AKB48 - all of them
genuinely seemed thrilled to play in front of the New York audience
- I wavered between amusement and a general feeling of ickyness.

(Special thanks for Hayden of SuperGlorious and Taeko from New
York-Tokyo for their concert help.)

Enjoy,

L.M.D.

Sept. 27th, 2009

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Press Event

The good folks at Ubisoft got
together to throw a delicious little shindig to celebrate their
forthcoming game based on the Sony Pictures release, Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs. Not only did I happily humiliate myself
with my pathetic skills on both the game's Wii and Xbox
platforms, I also got a cool custom t-shirt by Old School
hand-crafted clothing, and I’m only now coming off the sugar rush from
the abundance of sweets provided to keep us playing for hours. And yes,
meatballs were served!

We
also had the pleasure of meeting the creator of the original story:
Judi Barrett was on hand to grace us with signed copies of Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs and catch an early sneak peek at clips
from the movie.

Yum!

Looks like Neil Gaiman, dunne?

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs author, Judi Barrett

Enjoy,

L.M.D.

June 18th, 2009

The Taking of Pelham 123 Subway Experience

What more apropos event
could there be for a movie about the hijacking of a New York City subway
train than a crazy trip through the NYC transit system. The good folks
at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority hosted yours truly
through one of the most unique travel experiences I’ve ever had. As a
fan of both Old Timey New York and 126-year-old dust, I was in my
element for a most unusual train ride that took me through the first
subway station ever opened in New York City {in 1904}. Then, it
was onward through the secret passageways deep beneath the Brooklyn
Bridge station avoiding mattresses and derelict shopping carts into
the bridge’s mysterious vaults which were once warehouses for the
wealthy.

Click on the thumbnails and
Come on Ride the Train.

Inside
City Hall subway station:

Our Chariot

Opened in 1904

The fabulous Alberteen Anderson

Fabulous the sequel: Ruthie Jones

Under
the Brooklyn Bridge subway station
and inside the vaults.

On our way to 1883

Beyond this door lies a parallel universe - right by J&R Music World! The innocuous entrance to the mysterious Wine Cellar

Original Brooklyn Bridge mosaic art - 1904

Turn of the Century elevator shaft; this will still arrive before the one on Lexington and 61st St.

Strangely lovely in the middle of all the century-old filth and darkness.

Aha, Wine Cellar...

Wine Cellar from the far end.

Wine Cellar from the far end #2

Shafted

Tony Annarumma lights our way

It was so sad to visit the Virgin Megastore the day after it closed.

Eek.

Julian Schnabel wishes he'd thought of this colour scheme

Don't go down there - It's dark!

Brig #1

Creeping away from a much creepier version of the Flatiron building.

No Exit!

How you know it's the NYC transit system; no trains in the station.

So, that's a catacomb.

If jails still looked like this we'd have no crime rate at all.

Yeah, you knew this had to end up with LMD in the pokey.

Deepest thanks to the good folks at Sony; Merisa Levine,
Sabrina Laufer and Christina Zisa for conjuring this
amazing day.

Thanks
to the good folk of the MTA Film for their kind accommodation and a once
in a lifetime history lesson:
Alberteen Anderson, Ruthie Jones, Frank Klimasz, Tony Annarumma, Ruben
Rodriguez and
Vinnie Richtblau.

The Taking of Pelham 123 opens in theatres on June 12th,
2009

Enjoy,

L.M.D.

June 4th, 2009

The finest foliage for five
boroughs was on display in Brooklyn and even a steady torrent couldn’t
keep the crowds away. Never mind the weather when the cherry blossoms
are in their brief, beautiful bloom. Even doused in mud, Sakura
Matsuri 2009 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was a Glorious
Thing. The classical arts under the main tent, the koto playing, the
traditional nihon buyo dancing, and the graceful, yet funky way of the
modern samurai were all here to be enjoyed. So were the two-for-one
bento boxes. I swear the sake played no part in why this year’s photos
even better than last years.

Kampai, babies!

.

With
all appreciation to Kate Blumm and the wonderful staff at the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden who treated us with such care.

Please click the BBG logo
to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's
website for plenty of bloomin' gorgeousness all year round.

Arigato, Gozai-mas, BBG.

Enjoy,

L.M.D.

May
3rd, 2009

Japan Society Cosplay
Party - 2009

Hey Dolls, Come check on the
gorgeousness and creativity of the fabulous 1st
ever Japan Society Cosplay Party. I hope this’ll become a yearly event
where boys and girls of all ages can get together and bask in their
anime gloriousness.

.

Enjoy,

L.M.D.

Mar.
31st, 2009

New York Comic Con

2009

Well kids, one of
the most highly-anticipated fan events of the year has come
and gone and despite an overwhelming mass of humanity packed
into a segment of the Javits Center and occasional inspired
visits from some small screen glitterati, the overall result
was an underwhelmed meh.

Falling short of the
expectation and star power of 2008’s con, this year’s
festivities were less interesting and far less organised.
Convention-goers were trapped in a mass of overwrought
geekdom with too few outlets in which to let their freak
flags fly.

I think most of the
issue came from a concerted effort to make it a true COMIC
CON! - with pulp authors, inkers and artists taking centre
stage. Somewhere along the line, the organisers
must’ve realised that this wasn’t bringing in the cabbage
they hoped and slowly some TV shows eked in, amping up the
excitement to an expectant whimper. At last, Disney,
Warner Brothers and the Japanese film phenom Takashi Miike
were corralled and there was finally some actual buzz.

All this is ironic,
as it’s possible the initial idea may have been to exclude
TV and film media to keep the New York con from the
complaints of the bigger San Diego affair becoming mere
promotion for the Hollywood machine. Sadly, New York
is not nearly as well-known and needs that Hollywood kiss
and movie star glamour to grow. Also, there was a
noticeable segregation of Asian input, perhaps mollifying
the grumbles of older generation traditional comic con
attendees freaked out by the sight of shrieking Narutards
and jiggying Haruhi Suzumiya clones.

Here are some bits
and pieces:

The Good:

All things UP:
Disney brought out their Pixar summer jewel with an
appearance by director Pete Docter and producer Jonas
Rivera. They also unspooled 41 minutes and 16 seconds
of heart tugging and joyous footage, which made me froth at
the fang for May to get here quicker. Really, this
could be Up there with A Bug’s Life & Monsters Inc. on the
LMD Pixar charts.

.

PACEY!:
I mean, Mighty Ducks star Joshua Jackson and the cast of TV
buzzpot Fringe all lingering about the con, being cool and
fabulous.

.

I met the Master of
the Whedonverse:
Yes, chilluns, I finally have shared the same air as the
King of Cult Television, Convention God Joss Whedon.
Having been a huge fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (-
before
Dawn came and messed everything up),
owing him for the world’s introduction to Nathan Fillion and
being on happy tenterhooks for his new series Dollhouse,
this was a big deal. Side story; on the last day of
the con, I finally was able to make it through the dealers
room and as I was perusing some goodies, someone tapped me
on the shoulder; “Excuse me, could you take a picture of me
and my friend?” I turn around to take the proffered camera
and see the asker putting him arm around his “friend” who
was …
wait for it … Joss Whedon! Having
remembered me from our interview earlier, we walked together
through the con for a bit before he got swamped by disciples
falling to kiss the soles of his Keds and I booked it for
high ground. Sorry, Joss.

Dave Gibbons at the
Watchmen Q&A:
I mention him specifically because it was a damned shame
Warner Brothers hadn’t bothered to bring on of the 50-odd
actors playing main roles in the film. I said it last year,
bring your A game, people. Luckily, the author was
erudite, funny and put to rest for all time the lingering
question of ‘Is Alan Moore batshit crazy?’

.

.

Best Video Game
presentation - Wolverine:
I’m still back on my Atari 2600, but I think I might have to
seriously upgrade after getting a look at Captain Adamantium
literally rip people in half with those famous three prong
claws in full blooming colour. After the demo, we were
given foam finger versions of our own to snarl around and
call people “bub” with. Those foam fingers came in second
for the award for…

Best Swag -
Sherrilyn Kenyon’s multimedia giveaway:
The supernatural novelist handed out some handy, durable
bags emblazoned with her upcoming Dark Hunters manga art on
them. There were copies of a few of her latest
paperbacks which she was happy to sign for free all weekend.
And she had fortune cookies! I’m not sure how this
fits into her mythology, but I was starving and food at the
con is mad expensive, so she wins! I will add Kenyon
had a fantastic looking booth with life sized cutouts of her
manga characters all around. This is how an author
gets noticed at a con. Off as I am at the mo’ on urban
Fantasy, seeing the manga characters made we want to see the
book.

The guy who had the
stones to ask the Friday the 13th movie panel,
“Why do we even need this film?”:
Ah, the heedless bravery of a comic convention-goer.
Amid cheers and hisses and the barely-contained outrage of
the producers, this young man asked what had been on
everyone’s mind during the self-congratulatory panel for the
remake.

The Bad:

Well, I can’t
complain about Star Wars this year as I legged it out
of the panel before they could start along with about 2/3’s
of the audience, many of whom turned up in the massive queue
for the Robot Chicken panel. For all I know,
the Star Wars panel this year was the greatest thing any
convention has ever seen… yeah!

Overall organisation
and how bloody packed the con was:
Okay, NYCC folks, learn the grid, love it, embrace it. From
the moment I opened up the programme, I knew I was in
trouble; there was no straight schedule grid. In other
words, Friday 11AM-11:30AM - these events are taking place
in these rooms. Very simple, ne? Instead, there was an
incomplete listing of panels title by title without much
sense of order. Simplify, folks, simplify. When you walk
straight down the middle of the dealer’s room aisles and
can’t move about or see any of the booths for the crowds of
people around you, that’s too many people.

At least this year
they remembered to make up potty passes for folks settled in
the IGN theatre. I’m taking partial credit for that
improvement.

The Rant:

Nikkatsu & Johnny’s Entertainment:Let me be Swarovski
clear, Grady Hendrix is a sartorially exemplary cherubic god
among men, seriously. After all he’s had to contend
with during Comic Con, I’m sending his name into the
Vatican. Subway Cinema pulled a wondrous coup by
bringing the premiere of Yatterman, a live action version of
a 1970’s Tatsunoko, anime to New York for its premiere.
Even more, he managed to scoop director Takashi Miike
himself and the star of the film, Japanese pop star, Sho
Sakurai, in the offing. Sadly, along with the film and
the pop tart, came a load of baggage which is the focus of
this kvetch. Even if I’m not fanatical over every film
in Takashi Miike’s extensive canon, damme if Audition isn’t
one of the creepiest movies ever made; so I was excited for
the world premiere of the innovative director’s latest (-
Click
here for our
review!). However, the quicker Japanese
film companies and management teams learn that the silly,
prohibitive rules that bar press and fans from interacting
with, and heaven forbid, giving free publicity to their
client/projects in Japan do not wash so well in the US, the
happier we’ll all be. There was the arrogance of the lauded
Comic Con “personal appearance” of Yatterman star, Jpop
“sensation” Sho Sakurai to his international fans - which
consisted of the fetching Japanese androgyne standing in an
overhead office window, waving and pointing to about 70
little girls down on the convention floor (- while about 150
con-goers watched them scream)
for a whopping minute and a half; no autographs, no
handshakes, nothin’ - “for security reasons”. Um,
Madonna still does record signings, the Jonas Brothers and Miley flipping Cyrus do autograph signings – nobody dies
during those. Apparently, this sort of fanblock
happens all the time in the East in accordance with
freakishly strict, hands-off regimentation by young Master
Sakurai’s personal management, an outfit called Johnny’s
Entertainment. Then there’s the refusal of film
company, Nikkatsu, to entertain interview requests (- even for Miike,
who’s perfectly press-friendly)
from anyone who wasn’t selected print (re:
Japanese),
or television (re:
NHK, TV Tokyo).
I’m sure it was thanks to the entreaties from the wonderful
Mr. Hendrix that the excluded reporters who wished to speak
with Miike were allowed a brief press conference where we
were practically threatened with confiscation of our first
born kittens and best-loved hair products if we dared to
snap any pictures of the Golden Pop Idol. Pay no mind to
the 30 Japanese photographers and film crews present all
around us capturing every moment of Western attention.
They brought over their own press; who needed us? The
entire thing felt like a manipulative game Nikkatsu &
Johnny’s were playing, using the US fans and press as a prop
to show off back home in Japan. Normally, I don’t go
spleeny over the business side of things, but as we on the
site are interested in featuring more on Japanese pop
culture, including filmmakers and music acts, this is not
encouraging.

The Surrogates
panel:
A trailer for the new Bruce Willis clone-related actioner (Clones
are big this year – George Lucas, so ahead of the curve),
without
much bite or substance ended with about 100 models pouring
forth from behind the stage in untouchable perfection that
no average comic con-goer could even dream of attaining,
handing out business cards emblazoned with the film’s
official site. Well, all right.

The Terminator
Salvation panel:
Director McG must’ve stomped the stuffing out of the
competition as a kid running for class president. He’s
like a whole cheerleading squad rolled into one person.
Dropping famous names like sweets to the starving con
masses; pulling a Christian Bale burnout on an
unsuspecting journalist. Dragging three Terminator
fans onto the panel stage to “help him with the questions”
then never referring to them again. Promising that he
would go with the audience’s notes back to the editing room
and employ their feedback; the blatant neediness and
badgering for approval was disturbing. He endlessly praised
Bale until I wondered if he was getting paid per
compliment. McG
called Bale’s house, ambushing Mrs. Bale (Mr.
Bale was smart enough not to be at home – perhaps off
to an anger management class?),
haranguing the crowd to scream their support for the
Terminator film over his crackberry speakerphone for Mrs.
Bale’s bemusement. It did not make up for the utter
confusion of the clip he brought; granted it’s a mishmash of
unfinished footage, but I could not make heads or tails, nor
could I determine that there was all that much Bale
in the footage. There was a Bale lookalike (Sam
Worthington, apparently)
who I kept mixing up, so it took a lot of hot air out of
McG’s Bale-stroking when we couldn’t even make
out his star. Just odd …

.

Overall, the whole
thing was a large step down from last year’s New York Comic
Con; with the tumult created by the exclusive footage of
The Dark Knight and the involvement of true legends of
the geekosphere (- Stan Lee!
Neil
Gaiman!)
as well as Hollywood bigwigs. I actually missed Eva
Mendes and Frank Miller vamping it up for the
cameras for The Spirit and Lou Ferrigno
intimidating a voice-over job as The Hulk out of
Tim Roth and director Louis Letterier. All
who attended last year waxed melancholy for the Hellboy 2
panel which included the entire cast surrounded by actors in
the film’s phantasmagoric monster costumes and director
Guillermo Del Toro himself handing out special comic
con-edition Hellboy 2 posters.

Perhaps it’s the
fragile economy that had Universal Pictures, 20th
Century Fox and others opting out of showing their
wares, but their lack of attendance was certainly noted by
the wide expanse of crossover media coverage this year and
surely they must know that Comic Con buzz is priceless.

As for the con
itself, I think they rested upon last year’s laurels too
much and didn’t give the forethought to comfort and interest
of the average conventioneer, for whom the con is a yearly
spark of colour and fun. This year was a lot less spark,
very little colour and not enough room to have much fun.